Jean Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert

On November 16, 1717, a gendarme found a baby who had been abandoned near the church of Saint Jean le Rond in Paris. The boy was given the name of the church and was boarded out by the parish in the home of a glazier who lived in the vicinity. At a later time, his father made provision for his education, and when he became famous, it is said that his mother tried to get in touch with him, but be refused her overtures and stayed with his foster mother although she was not in entire sympathy with his career. Ball quotes her as saying, “You will be nothing but a philosopher. And what is a philosopher? He is a fool who torments himself during his life so that people will talk about him when he is dead.”